Crunchyroll Plans North American Theatrical Run For ‘One Piece Film Red’

Sony-owned anime distributor Crunchyroll is bringing Japan’s current box office behemoth One Piece Film Red to North American cinemas later this year.

The fifteenth One Piece feature, which has already grossed more than $93 million at the Japanese box office, will hit American theaters on November 4, one day after it lands in Australia and New Zealand. The film will also get theatrical releases in Austria and Germany on October 13.

Sony, and more specifically Crunchyroll, are redefining the theatrical landscape for anime features in North America and proving that popular Japanese animated films can routinely pull in more than $30 million at the box office.

Four of the top-six highest grossing anime titles at the North American box office have come in the past three years, each distributed by either Crunchyroll or Funimation, both now owned by Sony: Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train, Jujustsu Kaisen 0: The Movie, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, and Dragon Ball Super: Broly. We’ll be watching closely to see what kind of numbers the latest One Piece film can muster.

One Piece Film Red is produced by Japan’s Toei Animation and franchise creator Eiichiro Oda. Goro Taniguchi (One Piece Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack!) directed the film form a screenplay by Tsutomu Kuroiwa (One Piece Film: Gold).

Ahead of its wide theatrical launch in the U.S., the film will get its North American premiere on October 6 at New York Comic Con.